nmh-workers
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Nmh-workers] inc, slocal, procmail, ...

2013-01-07 23:18:31
Ken Hornstein <kenh(_at_)pobox(_dot_)com> writes:

1) Local delivery from the MTA
2) Fetch mail from the local maildrop
3) Fetch mail from POP, IMAP and all the other methods supported by
fetchmail
4) Accept mail from a third party program (i.e. be an mda for
fetchmail)

I think this is all great; we just need someone to write the code :-/

At the other extreme, what's wrong with inc(1) handling nothing but 2
above?  The other things are others' problems that they can concentrate
on and do well.

So I don't quite know where the line should be drawn.

One thing to keep in mind when thinking about that line is that inc is
typically synchronous, where our use of fetchmail/procmail (or whatever)
is asynchronous. By the time we step up to MH, everything is already in
a folder or in the local maildrop ready for +inbox (or already in
+inbox). I don't want to have to wait for inc to go to my remote server.

But here's my
feelings on the topic.

- nmh should offer basic funtionality out of the box; adding other packages
  can add functionality, but you should be able to do the basic job of sending
  and receiving email without them.

- The first two ways of receiving email are fast becoming extremely rare.

- Saying, "Hey, we're an MUA that you should try out, except that we can't
  actually RECEIVE email, you have to use this third-party program",
  seems kinda wrong to me.

- We don't have to do everything that fetchmail does; I'm happy with a
  basic subset that most other MUAs support.

Obviously this a issue on which reasonable people can disagree.

--Ken

_______________________________________________
Nmh-workers mailing list
Nmh-workers(_at_)nongnu(_dot_)org
https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/nmh-workers


-- 
Bill Wohler <wohler(_at_)newt(_dot_)com> aka 
<Bill(_dot_)Wohler(_at_)nasa(_dot_)gov>
http://www.newt.com/wohler/
GnuPG ID:610BD9AD


_______________________________________________
Nmh-workers mailing list
Nmh-workers(_at_)nongnu(_dot_)org
https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/nmh-workers

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>